It may have seemed like another day at the Animal Sanctuary except it wasn´t. Today was a very special day, as the cocooned caterpillars that resided at the sanctuary´s trees were going to hatch out and become butterflies.
Fluttershy and the animals anxiously waited for the event, sitting under the trees. Next to them, was an open portal. Discord had cocoons in his garden´s trees as well, as he volunteered to take care of some so Fluttershy wouldn´t feel overwhelmed.
The draconequus poked his head out of the portal.
“Any news?”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“What about you?”
“Same for now. I´ll go and check again.”
Angel Bunny impatiently thumped his foot. Seeing that the animals were getting upset, Fluttershy decided to talk to him.
“I know, I know. You really want to see the butterflies. We all do! But these things take time.” she gently explained to the angry bunny.
The bunny sighed sadly.
“Don´t worry, they´ll come out. They always do.” she reassured him.
“They´re getting out! They´re getting out!” Discord rushed to the portal.
Just after he said that, the cocoons at Fluttershy´s sanctuary started breaking as well. The animals jumped in excitement, which caught both Fluttershy´s and Angel´s attention. The two gasped in surprise when they looked up.
Angel hugged Fluttershy´s foreleg and jumped as well. Fluttershy laughed.
“Yes I can see!” she told him.
“Here they come!” Discord said as butterflies came out of the portal.
They watched in awe as they all flew together. During the whole spectacle, Fluttershy´s had a smile in her face. She always loved butterflies, especially after she got her cutie mark. Since then, she helped them in everything she could as a form of repayment. So everytime a butterfly came out of a cocoon, her heart filled with peace.
Once all the butterflies had left, Discord started clapping.
“That was splendid! It was nice having participated as one of the coordinators of the spectacle.” he shook Fluttershy´s hoof, making her smile.
“I had so much fun planning it with you as well, Dizzy.”
“I´d love to stay more with you but I have to prepare some stuff for the animals.”
“That´s ok. I have to do stuff too.”
She kissed his cheek. They waved goodbye at each other before Discord closed the portal.
Fluttershy giggled when she saw Angel happy.
“See? I told you they´d all come out.” she said smugly to him.
However, she would quickly notice that there was still an unbroken cocoon.
“Well, almost all of them.” she rectified.
Angel jumped to her back before Fluttershy flew to the cocoon. She checked it.
“Oh, I hope nothing happened to the caterpillar inside.” she muttered to Angel. She cleared her throat. “Um… Little butterfly? I don´t know if you noticed but it´s time to leave the nest! Or cocoon in this case.” she giggled at her pun.
The butterfly inside shrunk. The pegasus and bunny looked at each other with concern.
“Oh, don´t worry, I´m not mad. It´s ok to be afraid. I´ll give you all the time you need to gather courage to get out.”
The butterfly shook its head.
“What? You want to stay in there forever?”
The butterfly nodded.
“But you can´t do that… Do you prefer to stay in such a small space rather than a wider and more colourful one?”
The butterfly replied yes once again. Fluttershy put her hoof under her chin.
“Hm… Maybe what you need is more reasons to break that cocoon. And I know who can help!”
As if he had been summoned, the draconequus opened a portal behind her.
“FLUTTERSHY!”
The pegasus yelped. When she saw Discord, she sighed in relief.
“Discord! You really scared me.” she said with a smile.
“Sorry, I didn´t mean to.” he apologized. “But it´s urgent! Follow me!”
Fluttershy jumped to the portal to Discord´s realm. In his garden, there was a tree, whose branches were holding many broken cocoons except for one. Discord anxiously pointed at it.
“Oh…” Fluttershy muttered as she observed the cocoon.
“What do you think it happened? Is it sick?” Discord asked panicked. “Oh, I knew I shouldn´t have fed him leaves from this dimension!” he hit his forehead with his eagle claw.
“No, don´t worry I don´t think it´s that. I´m pretty sure you took them well.” Fluttershy reassured him. “Something similar happened to me. There is still one butterfly inside its cocoon.”
“Really?” Discord asked surprised.
Fluttershy nodded.
“It´s not sick or anything but it refuses to come out as well.”
“But how could they prefer such a small space rather than the excitement of the outside world?!” Discord asked frustrated and confused.
Fluttershy covered her mouth as she chuckled.
“I said something similar to my cocoon. Though I understand that it prefers the comfortability of home. Maybe it´s because something happened before cocooning.”
“But all the caterpillars seemed to have fun while I was taking care of them! Or maybe I hurt it without meaning to, though I don´t have a memory of it. But that´s the only explanation I can come up with! Ugh, I knew I shouldn´t have taken care of those caterpillars.”
“No, I think you did a great job. But sometimes things happen that we can´t control. All we need to do is being there for them, encouraging them and having patience.”
“That sounds more like it. Although I´m the least patient draconequus I know of.”
“Well, I´m pretty sure you can add some fun to it like you always do.” Fluttershy nudged him.
“Like cheerleading?” Discord popped up a cheerleader outfit and two pompons.
“Exactly! I bet yours will come out sooner than mine, since you´re more fun.”
“Indeed I am! But you are the animal expert here, not me, so I´m sure yours will come out first.”
“I don´t know, I guess it´s a matter of waiting to see what happens. Good luck Discord!” Fluttershy said to him as she went through the portal.
“Good luck to you too!” Discord waved goodbye as he closed the portal once Fluttershy had crossed it. He clapped his hooves as he turned to the cocoon. “Ok butterfly! You know what time is it? That´s right! It´s time to fly around and explore all the chaos that awaits you. Isn´t that fun?”
There was no response.
“Come on, don´t be shy, you can do it! Give me a b, give me an u, two ts, an e, an r, an f, an l and a y Buuutterfly!” he cheered as he moved his pompons.
Again, no reaction. Discord stroked his beard in thought. His head turned into a bulb when he came up with an idea. He conjured up a bowl full of leaves and flowers.
“Still not convinced about leaving I see. What a pity because I happen to have a delicious bowl full of fresh green leaves and flowers with an aromatic nutritious nectar!”
Despite what Discord considered to be a great offer to the butterfly, it didn´t seem to be very interested. He threw away the bowl in disappointment.
“Knock, knock? Is there a butterfly inside?” Discord said as he softly knocked the cocoon.
The butterfly moved the cocoon moved to push Discord away.
“Ok sorry sorry!” he threw his lion paw and eagle claw to the air in defence. “But I´m doing this for your sake. Sooner or later you´ll have to eventually go! Don´t you get bored cooped up in there?”
The butterfly answered no.
“Well, I´m sorry but I´ll make you come out like my name is Discord! All I have to do is think in other ways. But which ones?”
Discord growled in frustration as he put laid his hands on his forehead.
Fluttershy pulled a cart with books and brought it to the tree where the cocoon was still standing.
“I see you´re still in there.” Fluttershy talked to the cocoon. “Just as I expected. Good for both you and me because what I think is that something happened to you while you were a caterpillar. But that´s what I´m here for. To listen and support you. So… Care to talk about it?” Fluttershy asked with a smile.”
However, the butterfly refused to talk.
“I was counting on that. So, I brought some books about Equestrian flora, geography and different landscapes so that you see that the outside world isn´t that bad if that´s what frightens you. In that case, I would recommend by picking a nearer side until you´re ready to go further. Let´s see…” Fluttershy opened a book, flipping through the pages until she found the entry she was looking for. “Aha! You may know this already but right now you´re at the animal sanctuary. But what you don´t know is the forest right ahead of you. In that forest there are many trees like pines, fir trees, oak trees… Those trees could make a beautiful home for you, don´t you think?”
Fluttershy´s smile erased, seeing that there was no answer.
“Of course! Maybe you´d be tired of trees at this point.” Fluttershy giggled nervously. “Oh I know! The flowers. You´ll find more different flowers in the forest rather than in the sancturary. You could find violets, sunflowers, roses… Much better than the ones you´d find in the sanctuary! Do you want me to tell you all the kinds of flowers you could find?”
Again, no reaction. Fluttershy sighed.
“I know, I´m probably boring you. I´m not a butterfly but for me, the best part of the outside world is the friends you can make. There are many kinds of butterflies out there, including ones who are like you! I´m pretty sure you´ll find friends out there! And who knows… maybe a butterfly who´s more than a friend.”
When Fluttershy mentioned `other butterflies´ she heard a small gasp. She looked up and saw the cocoon shrunk. That´s when Fluttershy knew why the butterfly didn´t want to come out.
“Ok, your way doesn´t seem to work, Discord.” the draconequus talked to himself as he paced around nervously. “Maybe I should start thinking like Fluttershy. What would Fluttershy do in this situation?”
A clone of Discord appeared in a flash, holding a list in his hands.
“Well, she would be all lovey dovey because animals are her talent, she would cheer them up, she would heal them, listen to them, give them advice-”
“Wait! Say the last part again!” Discord interrupted his clone.
“Give them advice? I´m sorry, but we both know you´re not the best giving advice.”
“No, no. Before that.”
“Listen to them?”
“That´s it!”
“What? You´re going to talk about feelings with insignificant cocoon?”
“I don´t like the idea as much as you but I promised Fluttershy that all the caterpillars would become flying butterflies. And that,” Discord pointed at the cocoon. “is not an insignificant cocoon, is the line between succeeding or being a failure in Fluttershy´s eyes!”
“Oh, you´ve become a softie.”
“Would a softie do this to you?”
Discord turned his clone into a baseball ball. He put on a helmet and took a bat.
“Why did I say anything?” the clone asked himself ironically.
Discord hit the ball and sent it flying away. Once he was finished, he returned to the cocoon.
“Alright little one. Seeing that none of my methods are making you get out of that thing, I decided to think what my dearest friend would do, which is finding the root of the problem. And how will I do that? That´s where you enter. I want you to answer this question: Why don´t you want to break that cocoon?”
The cocoon shook his head, telling him that he won´t reply to that question.
“I´m just trying to help you! Look, I don´t like talking about feelings either, but let me tell you by experience that being trapped is no fun. You might not be thinking that now but we´ll talk later after a thousand years! Besides, aren´t you bored?”
Once again, the cocoon responded no.
“Ok maybe you love sleeping. But don´t you feel lonely? I mean you won´t get to interact with other butteflies unless you-”
Discord stopped talking when he noticed the cocoon shrinking. His expression turned softer. Discord wasn´t sure if he had a heart but he felt something shattering inside when he understood why the butterfly didn´t want to want to leave the cocoon. He conjured up a bench next to it and sat on it. He fidgeted while reflecting on what to say.
“You are afraid to make friends aren´t you?” Fluttershy sadly asked. “Because you were hurt by the other caterpillars…”
It was a very quiet sound, but Fluttershy could hear some sobs.
“Don´t worry, I´m not mad at you. It´s perfectly ok to feel like that after an ugly experience. But don´t let that define your view of the outside world. Once you spread those wings, you´ll see from the world from another point of view. And most importantly, you´ll meet better butterflies that will love you the way you are. Don´t you think it´s worth coming out just for that?”
Fluttershy heard the butterfly sniffing.
“Look, I understand what you´re going through. Much like you, I was also a cocooned butterfly afraid of the world because of what she experienced as a caterpillar.”
As she spoke, Fluttershy imagined herself as a filly landing on some flowers. She smiled as she sniffed the flowers.
Meanwhile at the Chaos dimension, Discord sighed sadly.
“If only you could have told me what those caterpillars were doing to you… I might be famous for being unhelpful but believe me, I would have stood for you and make their lives chaotic until they started treating you nicely. Don´t tell this to anypony but I wasn´t always the scary Master of chaos… Long, long ago, I was just a different caterpillar.”
Much like Fluttershy, Discord imagined himself as a younger draconequus running around and sitting down in his garden. He wore a jovial smile as he looked to at the Chaos Dimension´s sky.
Both the pegasus and draconequus looked at their younger selves in a mixture of tenderness but pain too.
“One caterpillar. Lonely and yearning.” Fluttershy sang as she saw herself laughed at and dismissed by other pegasi foals.“Spends every evening and morning hoping. To feel accepted. And always wondering if the world will ever stop being so challenging. . And always wondering if the world will ever stop being so challenging.”
The filly ran away to hide. Once she thought she was out of sight, she laid down and cried.
“One caterpillar.” Discord sang to his butterfly as well.“Against the weather. The wind grows colder. And that lost creature. Has no protector. No room for exploring. He´s all he has for shelter, but something better is coming. Longs to be a monster but something better is coming.”
Discord saw how the little draconequus covered his ears as his eyes filled with tears due to big shadow with horns appearing in front of him. He ran away but his way was blocked by the shadows of ponies. Desperate and scared, the creature falls to the ground crying. Afterwards, Discord looked at the caterpillar with a smile.
“Oh caterpillar. Don´t hold on to your fright. I know you know it´s your time to go. To open those two wings in flight.”
Meanwhile Fluttershy opened her wings to approach the caterpillar.
“Wonders await you. Just on the other side. Trust they´ll be there. Start to prepare the way for tomorrow.”
The two sang to their respective cocoons.
“Oh caterpillar. Don´t hold on to your fright. I know you know it´s your time to go. To open those two wings in flight. Wonders await you. Just on the other side. Trust they´ll be there. Start to prepare the way for tomorrow.”
“See? I was also on my own cocoon a little longer than the rest.” Fluttershy reassured the butterfly. “And I´m pretty sure there are others butterflies out there with the same problem.”
After saying those worlds, Fluttershy gasped.
“That´s it!” she flew back to the ground. “Discord!”
“Fluttershy!” Discord opened a portal just in front of Fluttershy.
The two widened their eyes in surprise. Although they were dating, they still got surprised at how coordinated their thoughts well.
“Did it go well for you?” Fluttershy asked him.
“No.” Discord replied directly. “But I´m not giving up yet!” he quickly rectified. “And maybe I would need a little help from you…” Discord giggled nervously. “If you don´t mind that is. I´m a hundred percent sure your butterfly is flying around but you still have other-”
“Actually, mine hasn´t broken the cocoon either…” Fluttershy interrupted Discord.
“Really? But you´re the one who´s good with animals!”
“And you´re the Lord of Chaos! You can make the impossible happen. Though I´m glad you didn´t snap your fingers and released the butterfly from the cocoon…. We´re here to help not to enforce anything.”
“I did think it. I did think it.” Discord admitted. “However, I knew you wouldn´t like it so I had to take a detour.”
Fluttershy giggled.
“Oh Discord… But now that you mention it, my idea can help the both of us.”
“What is your idea?”
Fluttershy asked sadly.
“What if we put the two cocoons together?”
Discord blinked. Seeing that, Fluttershy decided to explain but before she could open her mouth, Discord had already opened his.
“Oh ho ho! Right out of my mind!” Discord showed her that he was elevating his tree with the eagle claw.
A huge grin drew in Fluttershy´s face.
“Right this way!” she guided him to a spot next to her tree. “Careful though. We don´t want to hurt the other animals.”
Discord nodded in understanding. Slowly, he planted the tree in the spot Fluttershy indicated. Then, he snapped his finger and conjured up a bench in which the two could sit.
“Right after you.” he bowed.
Fluttershy playfully rolled her eyes and sat on the bench. Afterwards, Discord sat next to her.
“You see, by talking about other butterflies my butterfly got scared. The poor thing must have been mistreated by others when it was a caterpillar and doesn´t want to go through it again, which is why it prefers to stay in the cocoon.” Fluttershy explained. “So I thought if it saw that it wasn´t the only butterfly with those feelings, it would see that maybe the world is worth exploring. That´s why I suggested that. And I also thought the same.” Fluttershy turned to Discord with a smile.
However, her expression turned into one of surprise and worry when he noticed Discord somewhat sad.
“What? Is everything ok?” she asked concerned.
“Nothing, it´s just I wish I could have done something, that´s all.”
“Hey.” Fluttershy put her hoof on Discord´s lion paw. “You are doing something. You are motivating it.”
“Yeah, but I´m talking about when it was a caterpillar.” Discord bit his lip, doubting if he should say the next thing. “Just as I wished somepony had helped me.”
Fluttershy hugged him.
“You know what? I think those two butterflies are like us. It took us a bit long to truly open up to the world. But with help we managed to break the cocoon. And if we could, they will.”
Discord smiled at Fluttershy. He put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her forehead. He looked at the cocoons.
“Two butterflies. Cocooned and waiting. Each in their own world. Anticipating what happens after the rearranging. And so afraid of change in a world that never stops changing.” Discord sang.
“So let the walls come down.” Fluttershy sang.“The world will never stop changing.”
“Never stop changing, never stop changing, never stop changing.” the two harmonized together.
Suddenly, the longed miracle happened. Slowly, the cocoon on Fluttershy´s tree started breaking. Fluttershy was the first to notice. She gasped.
“Discord! Look!” she pointed at the butterfly.
After some seconds, a beautiful butterfly spread its wings and stared at Fluttershy and Discord. It wasn´t visible but Fluttershy knew it was smiling at them. The butterfly flew to the other cocoon and gently patted it, as if it was reassuring the other butterfly that everything was ok. And thus, the other butterfly started breaking its cocoon too.
“Woo hoo! You did it! You did it! Woo!” Discord excited jumped in joy.
As a sign of gratitude, the butterflies flew to their respective caretakers´ noses. Fluttershy giggled.
“Oh, this isn´t farewell. You can visit anytime you want.” she told them.
“Exactly!” Discord agreed. “And don´t worry if you want to visit the chaos dimension. I´ll know, trust me.”
Once they felt ready, the two butterflies flew together as the sun set. Fluttershy and Discord embraced their wings as they sang to the fading butterflies.
“Oh butterflies. Don´t hold on to your fright. Both of you know you have to go. To open those two wings in flight. Wonders surround you. Just let the walls comes down. Don´t look behind, fly till you find the way toward tomorrow.”
Once they were out of sight, the couple shared glances full of love and kissed each other´s lips.